Medical doctor journeys to Antarctica for penguin photos

Valari Hyatt

Monday

Jan 31, 2011 at 12:01 AMJan 31, 2011 at 6:56 AM

Scott Moats left his wife, Michele Moul, at the Buenos Aires airport after a two-hour flight from Iguazu, Argentina. It would be the last time they would be together until Moats returned from Antarctica in mid-January. His journey began Dec. 23.

Scott Moats left his wife, Michele Moul, at the Buenos Aires airport after a two-hour flight from Iguazu, Argentina. It would be the last time they would be together until Moats returned from Antarctica in mid-January. His journey began Dec. 23.

Moats is a medical doctor at a federal prison in Pekin, Ill., and has an educational background in the biological sciences. He started preparing for this trip last year, after returning from the Amazon River in Northern Peru where he photographed the natives.

This time, his goal was to photograph penguins in their natural habitat.
Taking more than 4,000 photos, some of which include penguins that were featured in National Geographic’s feature film, “March of the Penguins,” Moats braved icy winds and freezing temperatures so he could photograph penguins on a frozen continent normally devoid of humanity.

“This is a part of the world that is protected,” Moats said Saturday at his home. “This place does not belong to humans. It’s their world, their home. It belongs to them.”

Leaving only his footsteps behind, Moats recalled how everyone was expected to follow explicit rules. That meant everyone on the ship underwent “bio-security” both at the beginning and end of the trip.

Bio-security, he said, includes vacuuming all clothing, shoes, etc., so no seeds, plants or germs could live to alter or harm the animals and their environment.

Exploring the beauty of Antarctica wasn’t a luxury vacation. Moats admits there were times when he wondered if he would ever see land again.

That happens when you’re out on the water for days and all you can see is “icebergs that go on for miles in every direction. It’s beautiful, but after awhile, all you see is blue sky, blue water, blue ice, and it’s all mirrored on the sea … it was a little scary at times. We were at sea for three days and I wanted to see some land.”

To get to land they had to ride on “zodiacs,” inflatable boats that were originally made for Jacque Cousteau by a former airplane manufacturer called “Zodiac.” Only the bravest and the fittest went out on zodiacs because the turbulent and choppy ice could upset the zodiacs and, at best, spray those inside with freezing water. At worst, someone could fall out of the zodiac and literally freeze to death.

Still, the penguins and seals made the Zodiac trips worthwhile for Moats, who said he could “smell them first, then hear them and, finally, see them. At first, they look like little black rocks, moving slightly. Then, as you get closer, you see that the black spots are penguins … hundreds of thousands of penguins.”

“This,” Moats said of the estimated 150,000 pairs of penguins plus chicks, “is what I came for.”

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